Friendship, Flames and Midnight Musings
by Orangest Blossom
Summary: "Because, hey... Maybe they were all in the stars already." Post-Graduation Tori reflects on her group of friends. T for minor language (Pretty sure it's just one incident, but still...)


The bonfire crackled  
>And they sat crossed-legged<br>On their towels that were spread on the sand  
>And the twinkling skylights of the heavens<br>Were outshone, for once  
>By the weary but radiant smiles<br>On everyone's faces.

Tori Vega looked around,  
>The firelight reflecting oddly<br>And casting freaky shadows across her friends' features.

Earlier that day,  
>They'd graduated Hollywood Arts.<p>

Tori hated that  
>"Graduation"<br>It should be called  
>"Time to make it or break it"<br>Or was she just being dramatic?  
>As an actress<br>She tended to do that.

But why not?  
>It was all very depressing.<p>

Cat, Beck and Jade were all going to New York:  
>Beck and Jade for Julliard,<br>And Cat for Broadway.

Andre was staying in Hollywood  
>And was meeting with a music producer<br>Next Thursday.

Robbie was going to school  
>In Oregon,<br>Hoping to get a degree  
>In some tech-y thing<br>That most of the group  
>Couldn't even pronounce the name of<br>(But it has something to do with movie effects.)  
>God knows want Tori would be doing.<p>

There were a lot of parts to her, she realized.  
>Tori the Actress,<br>Tori the Student,  
>Tori the Singer,<br>Tori the Good Girl,  
>Tori the Flirt,<br>Tori the Daughter,  
>Tori the Sister,<br>Tori the Best Friend,  
>And probably about thirty-something more.<p>

Usually they all worked in harmony,  
>Like the chords that Andre's fingers coaxed<br>From the Blackbox Theatre's grand piano,  
>But lately the parts were strangers.<p>

Should she pursue acting or singing?  
>Or should she go to veterinay school,<br>Like she'd wanted to before she transferred to HA?

Was she good enough for stardom?

"You okay, Tori? You've been real quiet."

Cat.

"Just thinking..."

"That must be hard for you,"  
>Jade said.<br>Beck nudged her and she nudged back,  
>Rolling her eyes.<br>Tori bit her lip  
>To keep from smiling<br>At the familiarity of it all  
>And the six fell back<br>Into a perfectly comfortable silence.

Tori looked at Jade.  
>The rebel,<br>The queen,  
>The writer,<br>The actress.

Earlier on the beach  
>The raven-haired girl<br>Had found some special type of driftwood  
>That she'd claimed<br>Would make the fire change colors  
>("Trust me, I used to light fires down here<br>Every day when I was a kid.")  
>The odd thing was, it worked<br>And the flames were currently electric blue  
>And shifting into sunset orange.<p>

Jade was like the smoke  
>That was ascending<br>From the multicolored flames,  
>Tori realized.<br>Dark,  
>Mysterious,<br>And on the rise towards the sky.  
>Willing to put forth that extra effort<br>Determined she'd reach a goal  
>That looks impossible,<br>(And probably was.)  
>She'd try and fail,<br>Because there was just no way.  
>Who was Jade kidding, reaching for the impossible?<br>Who were any of them kidding?

Tori half-sighed at her own pessimism,  
>And looked at Andre.<p>

If any of them could make it, he could.  
>He was like the fire.<br>Crackling  
>Sparked with a calm energy,<br>A quiet power.  
>But-<br>Hasn't fire  
>Always been a destroyer?<br>Andre could create,  
>But he could ruin just as easily.<br>Like when he'd almost gotten that record deal  
>But was ruined by "Favorite Foods."<br>(The record label said they'd "get back to him"  
>But Tori remembered<br>That they didn't.)  
>He'd blocked his own shot<br>More times than Tori could count.

Surprised by her increasingly depressing thoughts,  
>Tori shook her head,<br>Hoping to clear her mind.

But the thoughts kept on coming.

Robbie was tricky.  
>Tori decided on the sand for him<br>And she never would have guessed  
>How well it fit-<br>Robbie was the sand,  
>Always there,<br>Always dependable,  
>(Sometimes annoying,)<br>And also needy-  
>He couldn't do very well<br>Without the rest of the beach...  
>Tori wished a silent<br>Good luck to him  
>At a college where he wouldn't<br>Have Rex to hide behind  
>And their group of friends<br>To protect him.

And Cat? She represented the little things  
>The parts<br>That weren't taken for granted like the sand  
>That had no influence<br>No power  
>But everyone loved.<br>From the rainbow-tinted fish  
>That she'd squealed over earlier<br>To the colored flames  
>That Jade had shown them how to bring out.<br>There was no end to Cat,  
>Just like there are<br>An infinite number of little things-  
>She goes on and on<br>Like the soliloquies she recites  
>About nothing at all.<br>How could she find her place in the world  
>When she had difficulty focusing on one thing?<br>There was no "one thing" for Cat.  
>There was always an "and"<br>Tagged to the end of her thoughts.  
>How could she choose?<br>She had more options than Tori herself.

Last but not least,  
>There's Beck Oliver...<br>He was the ocean-  
>Mysterious like the smoke,<br>Powerful like the fire,  
>Dependable like the sand,<br>Appreciated like the little things,  
>But there was so much more to him.<br>He was the reasonable one  
>The logical one<br>The problem-solver  
>The level-headed one<br>His place was in the stars too...  
>But as Tori looked out at the waves,<br>And saw an echo of the celestial sphere,  
>But maybe he was doomed<br>To forever showing a reflection  
>Of the unattainable sky.<p>

The idea made Tori so sad she looked away.

Was this what they were all cursed to do?  
>Try,<br>Fail,  
>Try,<br>Fail,  
>For something damn near impossible,<br>Something neither Jade's strong will,  
>Nor Cat's multiple talents,<br>Andre's strength,  
>Beck's down-to-earth wisdom,<br>Robbie's trying-so-hard  
>Could help them reach...<p>

They were all headed for failure, weren't they?

The thoughts were too much  
>and Tori stood suddenly and walked away.<p>

No one followed for a moment  
>Then Tori heard someone stand<br>And heard the quiet footsteps behind her  
>She knew who it was before she turned around.<p>

"You okay, Tori?"

Andre.

"Yeah... I just...  
>Wish we could stay<br>At high school forever.  
>I wish nothing changed."<p>

He didn't say anything for a moment.

"Pretty stupid, huh?" Tori giggled nervously.

"No, I feel you..." Andre nodded.  
>"It's just-<br>We don't need to stay.  
>Everything changes,<br>So why not us?"

"We don't have to..."  
>Tori spoke without meaning to.<p>

"I didn't mean that...  
>The six of us will stay friends, Tor.<br>We'll just be a little farther apart."

"Hundreds of miles isn't just a little, Dre."

"Well, look at it this way.  
>Nothing in this world<br>Has been the same forever.  
>In the grand scheme of all of time and space,<br>A couple of us moving across the country  
>Isn't that big of a deal.<br>Make sense?"

And it did make sense.  
>Because as soon as Andre said<br>"The grand scheme of time and space"  
>Tori realized<br>She'd got it all wrong.

Andre was still the fire.  
>There were still things he screwed up.<br>Things sometimes crumbled to ashes  
>Under his touch<br>But.  
>When he'd had the opprotunity<br>To work with a big record label  
>And lost it with that dumb kiddie song<br>Hadn't he created  
>"Song 2 U"<br>From it?  
>That song,<br>Among others,  
>Had caught the attention<br>Of the producers  
>Who would be meeting with him on Thursday.<br>Something good  
>Always rises up from the ashes,<br>No matter how far the fire spreads.

Tori shook her head, surprised she'd missed that.

She whipped her head around,  
>Seeing everything<br>That she'd just  
>Totally misinterpreted.<p>

There's Cat, giggling at nothing,  
>Tori realized<br>Having millions of options  
>Was just who Cat was.<br>Focusing wasn't necessary,  
>Or maybe not even an possibility.<br>She would always be  
>The multifaceted sweetheart,<br>The more-than-triple threat.  
>There was no end to her-<br>And no end to what she could do.  
>If one thing doesn't work,<br>She moves on  
>To something new.<br>On and on.  
>Just like Cat.<p>

And Beck?  
>Beck wasn't cursed to reflect the stars-<br>You could see the stars in him.  
>He was the stars.<br>The fact that he could see them,  
>Was his personal reminder,<br>"That's where you'll be some day."  
>And he would try.<br>And he would succeed.  
>He had the talent,<br>He had the strength,  
>He had as much power as Andre,<br>And had as much ambition as Jade.  
>Jade...<p>

There was no way Jade was headed for failure.  
>Jade would succeed or die trying-<br>Because that's Jade.  
>She tries,<br>Fails,  
>Tries,<br>Fails,  
>Tries,<br>Then finally makes it.  
>She could do anything she could put her mind to.<br>She was fearless.  
>She was determined.<br>She was strong.  
>and she was headed for the stars.<br>(Look out world.)

And Robbie may be the sand,  
>Bland as a rice cracker at first,<br>But you realize after a while  
>It's the part that you take for granted.<br>The part you're sort of counting on  
>The one everyone needs at some point.<br>The dependable one.  
>The one that's always there.<br>(He kinda fit in their group more than Tori realized.)  
>And he had as much personality<br>And strength  
>And ability<br>As the rest of them-  
>Just in different ways.<p>

"See?" Andre said, noticing the change in her face.  
>"It's all good.<br>Now, come on-  
>I'mma surprise Cat<br>With these marshmallows I brought.  
>S'mores?"<p>

"Sure." Tori smiled.

Everything would be fine.

There was no reason to worry  
>About any of their futures.<br>Even after they left,  
>They would still have their own talents-<br>Jade's strong will,  
>Cat's multiple talents,<br>Andre's strength,  
>Beck's down-to-earth wisdom,<br>Robbie's trying-so-hard...

And...

What was Tori?

Tori thought for a second  
>Then smiled.<p>

Tori was the moon-  
>Among the stars.<br>Quiet.  
>But also determined.<br>Not seen by everyone,  
>But a pleasure to meet<br>On a cloudless night.  
>As bright as a star.<p>

And when Tori heard her friend's laughter  
>Right before she turned back to the fire,<br>She echoed their smiles  
>The weary but radiant ones<br>That outshone  
>The twinkling skylights of the heavens<br>Without knowing the reason  
>For their happiness<br>(Only knowing the reason for her own.)  
>Because, hey...<br>Maybe they were all in the stars already.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Heyy, Orangest Blossom here ;) Wow! That was longer than I meant it to be... Leave a review please? xx<strong>


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